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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Al-serat (a Journal of Islamic Studies) The Excellences of the Imam Husayn in Sunni Hadith Tradition M. Ayoub University of Toronto Al-Serat, Vol XII (1986) HUMAN history may be seen as a record of the eternal struggle between right and wrong, virtue and vice, good and evil, and righteousness and wickedness. This struggle was decreed by God when Adam, an earthly creature, was sent to earth to engage in this eternal battle.

It is through this struggle that human beings can earn their eternal bliss in the Gardens of Paradise, or their eternal punishment in the Fire. In the history of nations this struggle often attains universal significance as that moment of the struggle can speak to all subsequent times and situations. Thus the Qur'an urges us over and over again to ponder the end of those who were before us, and how God dealt with them.

In every case, moreover, a prophet or messenger of God was rejected by his people and killed or driven out. In this sense, therefore, the struggle is in the end between God and humankind, between truth and falsehood, and between right guidance and manifest error. Nowhere is this struggle placed in sharper relief than in the life of the , and the lives of the people of his House. The life and witness of the Imam Husayn in particular, has acquired special significance in Muslim piety.

This is because he has provided a model for all martyrs in the way of God, for all time. The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the universal significance of the Imam in Muslim tradition. It is important to observe that all the traditions cited in this essay are found in both Shi'i and Sunni hadith literature. But while in the Sunni community such traditions remain purely pietistic, Shi'i tradition has made them the basis of a complex theological system.

However, to appreciate the place of Husayn, 'the prince of martyrs', in Muslim history, a word must be said about the place of the Prophet's family (the ahl al-bayt) in Muslim piety. At the same time the people of the House of the are not unique in the prophetic history of human societies.

A word is, therefore, necessary concerning the families of other prophets, if we are to appreciate fully the devotion which Muslims throughout their long history have accorded the people of the House of Muhammad, the seal of the prophets. Prophetic history begins, according to the Qur'an, with Adam, called safwat Allah (the elect of God).